Guild, 'Commercial Appeal' Discuss Outsourcing Printing

By: Jim Rosenberg Since it was informed that The Commercial Appeal was considering outsourcing its printing to a plant to be built by Journal Publishing Co. in Tupelo, Miss. (E&P Online, July 16), the Memphis Newspaper Guild met with the newspaper's representatives.

Commercial Appeal management offered more information and heard out the union's arguments for preserving printing in the newspaper's pressroom.

The Guild argued that accidents or inclement weather during the 200-plus miles that trucks would drive to and from Tupelo, home of Journal Publishing's Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, would jeopardize on-time deliveries, and therefore subscribers and advertisers' business. They added that any rise in fuel costs would reduce expected savings, and noted that the contract with the transportation supplier passes its fuel costs to the newspaper.

In a message to members on his local's Web site, Guild President Daniel Connolly wrote that although his union's five building mechanics, three drivers and three fork lift operators can lose their specific jobs but not their employment to outsourcing, the mailers (28 full-times employees and 47 trainees and other part-time workers) and pressmen (29 full-timers) unions have no similar contract protection.

Commercial Appeal Operations Director Stephen Tomb was away from the paper until Monday. With him at the recent meeting with Guild representatives were Warren C. Funk, the newspaper's general counsel, and Richard Lowe, an attorney for the newspaper from Nashville-based King & Ballow. Neither lawyer responded to telephone messages.

Connolly reported to members that in current contract negotiations with the Guild, "the company is pushing hard to take away our outsourcing protections."

He further reported that Low said in the meeting that outsourcing was being considered in order to save the cost of rebuilding the newspaper's old presses, not the labor costs. He quotes Lowe saying: "The costs are probably going to be a wash... probably even more in some cases" - presumably referring to the labor costs.

The possibilities of rebuilding the Commercial Appeal's Goss Metro units and folders and converting the presses to three-around/six-wide printing were discussed with Goss International and Pressline Services Inc., according to Connolly.

Journal Publishing asked for an answer from the Commercial Appeal by August 15 so that it would have time to incorporate into the plant's plans provisions to print that paper.

E.W. Scripps' Commercial Appeal has a weekday circulation of 192,631 copies (229,441 on Sundays), making it Tennessee's largest daily, thanks to more than 74,000 weekday electronic editions and almost 80,000 on Sunday. In terms of print circulation, it is second to The Tennessean, Gannett's Nashville daily.